Mirror Histories The Romanians as Seen by Themselves or by Others Throughout the Centuries, Edited by DANIELA MÂRZA • LIANA LÃPÃDATU

Mirror Histories. The Romanians as Seen by Themselves or by Others Throughout the Centuries Vol. XX, Supplement No. 4, 2011

Edited by DANIELA MÂRZA • LIANA LÃPÃDAtu

Editors’ Note, p. 5

From the Middle Ages to the Dawn of the Modern Era, p. 7

Florian Dumitru Soporan, Liana Lãpãdatu, Conscience ethnique et propagande patriotique dans un espace-frontière : les nations central- et est-européennes face à l’altérité confessionnelle, p. 9Abstract - Ethnic conscience and patriotic propaganda in a border region: the nations of Central and Eastern Europe and denominational otherness. The great Mongol invasion of 1241 and one of its indirect consequences, which became manifest a century later in the form of the renewed Islamic threat on the southeastern border of Christendom, had an immediate impact upon the self-image of the ethnic communities that had gained contour in Central and Eastern Europe during the Early Middle Ages and upon the polities they had set up after the year 1000. The possible modification of the ethnic and confessional balance in the area and the likely loss of the social-political status of the elite following incorporation by a hostile civilization led to the emergence of an identity discourse typical of the border nations, defined by the full equivalence between the interest of the nation and the greater cause of Christendom. This motif is present in the patriotic propaganda and in the diplomatic negotiations of that time, being referred to as finis christianitatis or antemurale christianitatis. Such concepts held such sway that they overcame denominational differences and were adopted into the identity-related discourse of the Hungarians, Poles, Ruthenians and Romanians alike. The idea of the defensive mission incumbent upon the nations living in this region endured even after the end of the Middle Ages and of its political paradigms, operating as a premise to the representation of the Central and Eastern European peoples as defenders of European civilization against the Eastern menace. The investigation of propaganda statements and especially of the solidarities triggered by these perceptions can lead to a better understanding of the history of certain ethnic groups that constantly experienced a volatile political balance but showed enough resilience to survive all annihilation attempts.Keywords: frontier, identity discourse, propaganda, mission, defensive, solidarity

Andrei Constantin Sãlãvãstru, The Medieval Sovereign and His Role within the Corporal Representation of the Political Organization during Middle Ages (12th-13th Centuries), p. 19Abstract -The Medieval Sovereign and His Role within the Corporal Representation of the Political Organization during Middle Ages (12th-13th Centuries). The current study focuses upon the metaphor of the body as form of the medieval political ideology and upon the role which the medieval sovereign plays within this organic analogy, as it is mirrored in the ideological writings of that period. Offering a model of pagan and Christian origins of the social and political structuring, which also became a source of legitimacy for the exercise of power in Middle Ages, this analogy can be found in a significant number of medieval treatises, starting from John of Salisbury, during the 12th century, and ending with the authors from the Tudor age, like Thomas Starkey, William Averell or Edward Forset. Without claiming to offer a thorough overview of all the texts comprising references, more or less elaborate, to the body metaphor, we have focused our interest upon two medieval authors, whose writings had a fundamental impact upon the mindset of the Middle Ages: John of Salisbury and his treatise Policraticus and Aegidius Romanus with De Regimine Principum. Both authors write in the context of the disputes between the papacy and the earthly princes (the Holy Roman Emperor mostly, but the king of France as well later) regarding the nature and the position of the spiritual and temporal power in relation to each other. The central argument of this paper deals with the role attributed to the medieval sovereign within the political template described in the respective treatises. John of Salisbury and Gilles of Rome offer a political model where they assign a fundamental position to the prince, that of physician and distributor of goods, associated either with a symbolic head, or a symbolic heart of the “body politic”. As such, his role is both prophylactic and curative, to prevent and cure the afflictions touching the realm in his care, establishing at the same time a direct link between the health and the virtues of the king and the well-being of his regimen.Keywords: political body, physician-king, head and heart of the kingdom

Gheorghe Şişeştean, Aspects Regarding the Role of the Habsburg Empire in the Rural Modernization of Transylvania and of the Western Regions (18th and 19th Centuries), p. 33
Abstract - Aspects Regarding the Role of the Habsburg Empire in the Rural Modernization of Transylvania and of the Western Regions (18th and 19th Centuries). Romanian historiography has remained, for various reasons which we shall present below, almost unaware of the role of the Austrian administration in the rural modernization of the countryside in the eastern part of the empire. Some social, technological, organizational innovations of the countryside—affecting even the households and introduced by the Austrian administration—become, by repetition in long historical series, elements of rural tradition, and the triggering agent of this “induced modernization,” coming from outside the community, is completely forgotten. Despite the inherent inertia specific for the countryside, in the 18th and 19th centuries it felt the impact of the modernization reforms, and thus the stereotypical image of rural immobility and paralysis must be amended. We investigate here some of the elements of the modernization induced by the Austrian authorities, regarding the revival of the free peasantry, the reorganization of the agricultural and built-up rural land, of the road networks and of the rural household.Keywords: sociology of space, reforms, induced modernization, Austrian administration, social history

Barbu Ştefãnescu, La dimension rituelle de la sociabilité communautaire dans le monde rurale de Transylvanie (XVIIIe siècle), p. 49Abstract - Ritual Aspect of Community Sociability in the Transylvanian Rural World (18th Century).In traditional societies, such as the 18th century Transylvanian rural world, communication was mainly carried out through ritual. One of the most important tasks of the ritual was to rhythmically affirm community aggregation particularly during crisis moments when this issue was raised. Such moments provided violent actions including violent death. Under the circumstances, the ritual norm that was supposed to precede death was not fulfilled. Consequently, excessive posthumous rituals were needed to support the soul of those departed too soon in their new universe. To this we may add public reconciliation ceremonies of families involved in a murder to stop the violence supposed by the wish for revenge expressed by the family of the murdered to restore community peace as a supreme Christian value.Keywords: Community sociability, traditional societies, the ritual norme, violent death, public reconciliation

Dorin-Ioan Rus, Aspects of Everyday Life and Natural Phenomena as Recorded in the Chronicle of the Elsen Family from Reghin (1704-1853), p. 65Abstract - Aspects of Everyday Life and Natural Phenomena as Recorded in the Chronicle of the Elsen Family from Reghin (1704-1853). The aim of the present article is to reveal the manner in which the authors of this chronicle viewed the world and the environment, on the one hand, and to analyze the perception of natural phenomena in a family chronicle, on the other. The main source was the chronicle of the Elsen family, entitled “Familienbuch und Hauschronik des Herrn Samuel Elsen, Tischlermeister (und Turner) in Sächsisch-Regen,”, wich extends over the period 1704-1853, and it is authored by several of its members. The Chronicle is a significant source for the history of Reghin, since it not only enumerates random events, but also proves the direct involvement of the authors and those close to them in the everyday life of the town.Keywords: chronicle, Reghin, modern era, natural phenomena, medical history, economic history, church history

Identity and Diversity, p. 77

Sorin Mitu, Restructuring Identity at the Beginning of the Modern Era: Nation and Social Status with the Romanians in Transylvania, p. 79Abstract -Restructuring Identity at the Beginning of the Modern Era: Nation and Social Status with the Romanians in Transylvania. In this paper the author analyses the descriptions and images that reflected the Romanian social structure in Transylvania during the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century. Thus, the aim of this paper is mainly to reveal the ideological functions fulfilled by these images, in the political context of that period. Such images belong to both internal Romanian and foreign observers. Among the internal observers there are two categories of images: those which belong to the intellectuals of the Enlightenment and some others drawn by the Romantic intellectuals. The study’s conclusions show that the majority of internal observers considered that Transylvania’s Romanian society should be described as a homogenous and undifferentiated mass, essentially comprised of peasants. Within the building process of such an image, the direct observation of the realities, which might have shown that the Romanians from Transylvania had always had significant social elites, counted for less. In contrast, promoting the image of a peasant nation was considered to bring more important psychological and political benefits. At first, the Romanian intellectuals of the Enlightenment struggled against such a leveling image and showed that the Romanians also have strong elites, similar to those of other nations. Nevertheless, the next generation, the Romantic one which was influenced by Herder’s ideas, considered that the essence of the Romanian nation was to be found only among the peasants. In the context of the 19th century, which was dominated by the democratic and nationalistic ideas, the Romanian intellectuals believed that the image of a nation composed of a large mass of peasants will better serve their political purposes. As a consequence, within their writings, they neglected the historical role of the Romanian elites from Transylvania, considering that these elites had not adequately served the interests of the masses, of the nation.Keywords: Social identity, Transylvania, Romanian nationalism, Enlightenment, Romanticism

Luminiţa Ignat-Coman, Representing Transylvanian Romanians: Psychology and Ethnic Characterology in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century, p. 91Abstract - Representing Transylvanian Romanians: Psychology and Ethnic Characterology in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Transylvania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Transylvanian Romanian intellectuals channeled their efforts toward establishing the distinctive and specific elements of the province, presenting history, culture and religion as the elements which singled it out. Another method of mapping out identity is to outline a portrait of Transylvanian Romanians through the description of the physical and character traits of the ethnicity. The article focuses on the analysis of this type of representations as they are outlined in the works of Romanian authors such as Ioan Slavici, Valeriu Braniºte, and George Bariþ. I argue that the essence of the character of Transylvanian Romanian, as it appears in the works of these authors, is a positive one given the political context which cultivated certain qualities and flaws. The article concludes that physical and character traits single the province out and constitute powerful elements of identity.Keywords: National identity, ethnic characterology, self-image, Transylvania, modern era

Giuseppe Motta, Under Two Dinasties. An Inquiry into the Historical Roots of a Bosniak National Identity, p. 103Abstract - Under Two Dinasties. An Inquiry into the Historical Roots of a Bosniak National Identity. Every nation is the strange mixture of different features: some stressed their cultural and idiomatic particularities, others their faith or their economic skills; certain nations pointed out their ethnic uniqueness, others had all these elements as the result of historical dynamics that, through diplomacy and the violence of wars, accompanied the birth of new nations. In the last few years, Europe has witnessed not only the European integration process and the sovranational construction of common institutions, but also the fragmentation of her old status quo, especially in the former Soviet Union and in the south-eastern and Balkan area, where the wars of the nineties accelerated the decline and collapse of Yugoslavia, on whose ruins new national identities rose side by side with the appearance of new countries.
During these troubled years, Bosnia experienced the definitive consolidation of a national Bosniak identity. This process, which had already begun during the communist regime, was speeded up by the war and, after the Dayton agreement, by the formation of a new state with a new and fragile cultural perspective.Keywords: nationalism, Bosnia, Balkans, Habsburg, world wars, national identity, Bosniak culture, Muslims, Jugoslavenska Muslimanska Demoktratija

Corina Iosif, Les Aroumains entre nationalité et ethnicité : l’histoire d’une construction identitaire, p. 133Abstract -The Aromanians between nationality and ethnicity: the history of an identity building. The history of building the Aromanian ethnic identity took place between the Greek and the Romanian propaganda. In the early phases of European national movements, Aromanians had to define their identity either in relationship to the cultural proximity with the Greeks (doubled by linguistic difference), or in relationship to the linguistic proximity with the Romanians (doubled by cultural difference). In the aftermath of the Balkanic wars, some groups of Aromanians decided, at the initiative of the Romanian state and in the name of the Romanians from the region of the Carpathians, to establish themselves as colonists in the newly created Romanian national state. There they formed a strong community that functioned as a diaspora for the Aromanians remained on their national territories. The identity discourse that kept on uniting Aromanian groups disseminated in this way was built on the basis of questioning their ethnic identity considered to be either similar to or different from the Romanian ethnic identity. In the post-1990 period, after a number of initiatives carried out by their elites, the Aromanians were recognized by a decision of the Council of Europe as an ethnicity and the Aromanian as distinct language different from the Romanian (and not only as a dialect of the latter). However, their regular discourse on their ethnic identity stayed, in the current historical context, the same, influencing their ethnic policies.Keywords: Aromanians, nationality, ethnicity, Balkans, Romanians, European national movements

Sînziana Preda, To Be Called and to Call Yourself. Images of the Etnic Identity, p. 149Abstract -To Be Called and to Call Yourself. Images of the Etnic Identity. In the register of social representations, the nickname functions as an identification procedure rather than as a cognition method; with the help of the nickname, one may, at most, edify a different behaviour in comparison to another one from a closer or more remote group. While the common individuals are interested in spreading the stereotypes, the scientists are more preoccupied with the form, the quantity and the context in which they appeared. In order to have an adequate understanding, one must take two aspects into account: on the one hand, stereotypes are representations built in everyone’s mind; on the other, they are elements of the social structure, shared by the members of that particular culture. Our goal is to detect several types of primary identification in the relationships of one of the minorities from the southern Banat – the Czechs from the Danube Gorge – with the Romanian majority.Keywords: Czechs, nickname, minority, ethnic discourse

Emil Ţîrcomnicu, Considerations on ethnological research in Timoc Valley (Bulgaria), p. 161Abstract -Considerations on ethnological research in Timoc Valley (Bulgaria). In the area between Vidin, Danube and Timoc, in northwest of Bulgaria, is an old Romanian community who, while a century, had no access to education in their native language. In these circumstances, it seems surprising that the population of Romanian origin in this space has kept the main markers of identity: language, customs and beliefs. Ethnological research conducted in this area seeks to introduce and update in the Romanian science, both for comparative analysis and as overview across state borders, ethnological elements that complete popular culture documents obtained in Romania by the research at the Romanian Ethnographic Atlas. Ethnological phenomenon does not stop at borders, but is recovered, and it should be studied, where there is a population of the same ethnic origin. Spiritual values are part of both the Romanian-Bulgarian cultural heritage and intangible heritage of Europe. Extension of research at Romanian Ethnographic Atlas at the Romanian historical communities around the borders will allow us to have an overview of the extent of the Romanian cultural values in the southeast European area. Keywords: ethnic minority, Romanians in Bulgaria, Timoc Valley, feasts and customs, Romanian spirituality, intangible heritage, identity markers, ethnographic coordinates

Simona Mitroiu, À la recherche de l’identité, p. 173Abstract -In Search of Identity. In the same way in which Salvador Dali painted the identity in The Birth of a Goddess, drawing a face that will take shape step by step using the personal experiences and the relations established, we can say that the identity is a concept that cannot be analyzed–anymore–just at the theoretical level without any references to our private experiences, because the temptation of the identity is that of the whole that must bond together the elements of life. The identity seems to be the joining point of our fears and convictions of a world thirsty for knowledge, but frighten by the rapid changes that follow the discoveries and the informational acceleration, a world that–doesn’t–allow time for adaptation.Keywords: identity, globalization, culture, multidimensional identity

Provinces, Regions, and the Periphery, p. 195

Pompei Cocean, Sorin Filip, The Huntington Boundary between Error and Bias, p. 197Abstract - The Huntington Boundary between Error and Bias. The authors of this paper analyze the objectivity of a perspective on the Romanian territory, supposedly split by a boundary separating the Western and the Eastern civilization. The starting point of the study is Huntington’s statement that the eastern limit of Europe is, in fact, the boundary between the Western Christian world, on one side, and the Orthodox and the Muslim world, on the other. Relying on historical, statistical, demographical, and geographical data, which prove the non-existence of such a boundary across the Romanian territory, the authors bring counterarguments to this theory. The analysis of these data reveals, in fact, the existence of a Romanian territorial reality unitary from the ethnic, the religious, and the cultural point of view, a reality characterized by two essential features: its Roman heritage and Orthodoxy.Keywords: the Huntington Boundary, Europe, East, West, Orthodox world, Muslims, Christians.

Cristina Spinei, Damals in der Bukowina: Geschichtliche Erfahrungsräume – kleine und große beseelte Welten, p. 213Abstract - Sometime in Bukowina: spaces of historical experiences – smaller and larger world, full of life. The social-historical argumentation of this article is to offer a fresco of the Bucovina belonging to the Habsburg Monarchy and also an illustration of the typical occurrences for this region: the interweavement between the ‘Western’ urbanity and the ‘Eastern’ patriarchal rurality, in the transfer of Central Europe versus Eastern Europe, therefore West vs. East or centre vs. marginality; with a tolerant, cosmopolitan spirit, characteristic of a plurietnic, pluriconfessional climate of togetherness, where differences are accepted and respected, and on the other hand, with contrasts and conflicts produced precisely due to this plurality and that find themselves at the other pole of the idyllic – with antisemitism, segregations, exclusion of strangers and xenophobia. Thus, the most interesting arguments about the Central European complex are deconstructed and its pluralism unfolded.Keywords: Bucovina, centre vs. marginality, tolerance, cosmopolitanism, antisemitism, segregations, challenge of the central-European coordinates.

Kurt Scharr, Mythos Czernowitz – Eine Suche nach Ursprüngen, p. 225Abstract -Myth Chernivtsi – A search of its roots. Since 1989/1991 Chernivtsi and Bucovina are gaining in popularity in various publications. It has become clear to ‘Westerners’ that the city of Chernivtsi known as a topos of literary world is really existing. Meanwhile the people in Bucovina have also discovered their unknown and partially forbidden past. For the first time in some decades the topos – almost no more linked to a certain space – could come back to its birth place. Now we may start to look for the political ideas, born in the changing society in search for identity before 1914, which contributed to the persisting myth of Chernivtsi-Bucovina and for its importance in contemporary life of this European region, presently divided between Romania and Ukraine.Keywords: Bucovina, Habsburg Empire, Myth, Imagology, Literature, urban culture, 1989/1991

Cãlin Cornel Pop, Ioan Mac, Normative and Conceptual Elements of Sylvania Land Identity in the Unity of the Transylvanian Space, p. 245Abstract - Normative and Conceptual Elements of Sylvania Land Identity in the Unity of the Transylvanian Space. The Land of Sylvania represents an integral part of Transylvania, so that in the contents of its geographical space are present all the characteristic elements of Transylvanian space, from crystalline formations to sedimentary formations, from Mesozoic limestone to marls and clays. The ensemble of connections situated between abiotic, biotic and anthropic components from the space between Meseº Mountains, Plopiº Mountains and Codru Hummock represents the support of the territory identified formally with the country of Sylvania. The existence of a rich ethnographic dowry, folk, likewise the variety of many objects written on the cenotaph list, individualize the country of Sylvania and it offers good possibilities of perspective development. All over the place, where the population has established, firstly they looked for nourishment and shelter, and poor places which did not have woods with rich hunt, fertile ground or without mineral resources, were generally avoided by the population. In the same manner, the population of Sylvania country capitalized, in conformity with the necessity and its changes, the huge potential of resources offered by its geographic average. The Romanian tradition from Sylvania country keeps even nowadays the Latin name, Sylvania, which has perpetuated even in some localities names like Sighetu Silvaniei, Cehu Silvaniei and Şimleu Silvaniei. It is sure the fact that in this side of the country, in this Transylvanian space was a “Land of Sylvania”, which contributed, with many other countries, to knock together the Romanian nation.Keywords: Sylvania Land, cultural identity, Transylvanian space unity

Sanda Berce, Narrative Identity: Questioning Tradition, Probing Modernity, p. 251Abstract - Narrative Identity: Questioning Tradition, Probing Modernity. The study on the duality of the Irish experience as reflected in the aesthetic transition from the modernist to the contemporary literary experiences, triggered by narrative identity, is an inquiry into the continuous negotiation between ‘tradition’ that is in itself contradictory, given the various interpretations of the past, and ‘innovation’, which is defined against the background of the historical dimension. The origins of the complex cultural identity in Ireland can be located in the context of an ever-growing Irish-British political conflict that started in the 17th century plantations. Thereafter, the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland started to have important implications for the 18th century, when a series of Penal Laws were introduced with the aim of consolidating Protestant control and ensuring Catholic submission.Keywords: Ireland, narrative identity, modern era, literary experiences, Irish-British conflict, nationality, ethnicity

Religion and Community, p. 273 Marius Eppel, Les prémisses et la genèse du Vicariat orthodoxe d’Oradea, p. 275Abstract -Premises and genesis of Orthodox Vicarage from Oradea. This study presents the beginning of the Orthodox vicarage from Oradea in the confessional and political context of the Habsburg Empire from the late 17th century and the middle of the 18th century. Our research shows that there were two defining moments for crystallization of this ecclesiastical institution. The first was consumed during the Illyrian Congress from Timisoara in 1790-1791 when the establishment of the Vicarage was decided, and the second in 1793 when was formed its executive body, the Consistory.Keywords: Orthodox Church, Vicarage, Karlowitz, Oradea

Gabriel-Viorel Gârdan, Andrei Şaguna and the Contemporary Historiography, p. 287Abstract - Andrei Şaguna and the Contemporary Historiography. The life and activity of Andrei Şaguna drew the attention of several researchers, historians and theologians, for a long period of time. Hierarch, man of culture and publicist, leader of the nation, Şaguna represents, in fact, an epoch in the history of Transylvania. This way, one can explain the large number of studies dedicated to the Romanian orthodox hierarch. The multitude and the variety of approaches on this subject, as well as the lack of an overview of these researches, were the motives that determined us to explore in depth this theme. The contemporary perspective on the Sagunian historiography we wish to offer is a diachronic one, rather than a synchronic or a critical one.Keywords: historiography, Şaguna, church, metropolitan, Transylvanian

Valer Moga, Religious Vocabulary in the Discourse of Romanian Political Elites in Transylvania, 1918, p. 305Abstract -Religious Vocabulary in the Discourse of Romanian Political Elites in Transylvania, 1918. The quantitative analysis of the corpus of Romanian official political discourse spontaneously constituted in 19181 offers interesting and somewhat surprising results. The strangeness, whether real or apparent, lies in the proportion of terms and sentences with a religious meaning. The amount of these is impressive, occupying a second place closely behind the concept of nation. One may say that the speakers have not taken this path because they were guided by a deliberate intellectual construct, but they were rather inspired by the spirituality of the age and the place. They employed pre-existing structures of collective mentality, overlapping national action – history experienced – with Christian history, still very much alive in the consciousness of more or less educated Romanians.Keywords: Transylvanian, modern era, political elite, official dicourse, nation, religion, political objectives

Ioan Horga, Responsibilities of the Greek-Catholic Clergy in the Oradea Diocese during the Reforms of Joseph II, p. 321Abstract -Responsibilities of the Greek-Catholic Clergy in the Oradea Diocese during the Reforms of Joseph II. This paper analyzes the reforms of the Catholic clergy in the Austrian Empire under Maria Teresa and Joseph II with a focus on the situation of the Greek-Catholic clergy in the Oradea diocese during the rule of Joseph II. Thus, the clergy became more and more involved in the community life, with more responsibilities concerning the life and the living conditions of the believers, more involved in administrative issues, genuine civil servants of the community, in the good sense of the word. Joseph II was thus trying to strengthen the unity of the Empire and to show his interest in the life of his subjects through the agency of the Catholic clergy. Keywords: Clergy, Greek-Catholic Church, Joseph II, believers, community, organization.

Elena Crinela Holom, Between the Sound of Labour and the Sound of Bells: Sacred Time, Secular Time, Life Style, Practices and Behaviours in the Daily Writings of a Transylvanian Clerk from the End of the 19th Century, p. 331Abstract -Between the Sound of Labour and the Sound of Bells: Sacred Time, Secular Time, Life Style, Practices and Behaviours in the Daily Writings of a Transylvanian Clerk from the End of the 19th Century. For the traditional societies of the past, the rhythm and style of the life was to a great extent influenced by the continuous connections between the spiritual and secular time. The natural rhythms, meteorology and climatic aspects had also a great impact on the material activity. The proposed research is a return to the past, an investigation of the traditional life style placed between the sacred and secular time through an analysis of the pieces of the information contained in the daily writings of a Transylvanian clerk at the end of the 19th century.Keywords: sacred time, secular time, life style, daily writings, Transylvania, the end of the 19th century

We and Europe, p. 343

Cornel Sigmirean, European University Cities and the Romanian Students: 19th Century Academic Itineraries, p. 345Abstract - European University Cities and the Romanian Students. 19th Century Academic Itineraries. Research on the Romanian students’ academic itineraries shows that about 7000 young Romanians studied at Central European university cities around the turn of the century. Their origin was rural since they came from families of peasants, priests and schoolmasters. This explains their excitement and unique experiences in the great university cities abroad. The requirements of student life made them aware of the existence of different cultural patterns and identities, of foreign everyday life and socialization. They understood that the city was an agent of civilization and modernity. Consequently, life in the Central and Western European great university cities influenced their intellectual development in a positive way.Keywords: University city, Romanian students, Central and Western Europe, academic itineraries, modernity, urban civilization.

Stefano Santoro, Italy and Rumania in the early post-war period, p. 359Abstract -Italy and Romania in the early post-war period. From the first 1920s, Romania and Italy took different positions on the situation ratified by the Peace treaties of Paris, which constituted the main objective obstacle for any attempt of durable approach between Rome and Bucharest in the following years. If Rumania, after the annexation of Transylvania, was satisfied with the territorial arrangement achieved, in Italy the myth of the “mutilated victory” began to spread. If the Romanian diplomacy aimed at preserving the so-called status quo, the Italian diplomacy, first of all since the end of the 1920s, aimed at changing the territorial situation on its Eastern boundaries. In the economic field, Rumania offered to Italy great opportunities to exploit its raw materials, whose low price seemed very desirable to the Italian investors. In the cultural field, one may notice the substantial success of the propaganda of the Institute of Italian Culture of BucharestKeywords: Peace Conference of Paris, South-Eastern Europe, Italy, economic expansion, First World War, inter-war era, economic penetration, cultural propaganda

Liliana Ciaşcai, Sorina Paula Bolovan, Access to Education in Romania. Case Study: Transylvania, p. 373Abstract -Access to Education in Romania. Case Study: Transylvania. In this study we shall analyze educational policies, more precisely the access to education and its impact upon the history and the present of education in Romania. We shall focus on Transylvania, a province with very important multicultural and intercultural characteristics. There were long spans of time when discrimination, segregation, and assimilation affected the evolution of Romanian society and education. The historical evolution of education in Romania, including the territory of Transylvania, includes five important stages: instruction and education during feudalism, humanist instruction and education, instruction and education during the transition from humanism to the Enlightenment, modern education, present-day education. We will focus on present-day education, insisting on the intercultural dimension. The history of Romanian education requires an objective approach to the stereotypes and prejudices resulting from political interests. Such a history also needs to be presented against its complex geographical, historical, and cultural context.Keywords: history of education, educational policies, intercultural dimension, Romania, Transylvania

Gabriela Glãvan, Modern Times, Western Ways – Culture and Everyday Life in Interwar Romania, p. 395Abstract -Modern Times, Western Ways – Culture and Everyday Life in Interwar Romania. The present study investigates some of the most active agents of Western European influence in the Romanian interwar period: radio, cinema and the café, as components of a dynamic and changing decor of everyday life. It relies mostly on literary sources, i.e. the writings of several prominent interwar figures: Tudor Arghezi, Jeni Acterian, Mihail Sebastian, Mihail Sadoveanu. The cultural impact of these three elements of modern life has been documented by cultural theorists, sociologists and historians, but they also play a complex role in everyday life. Since diaries, notes and editorials are part of a literature that can be read as a chronicle of a given time, the exploration of the quotidian can significantly benefit from this type of reading. The theoretical references regarding everyday life – Fernand Braudel, Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Erving Goffman –, corroborated with social and historical approaches to the issue of the Westernization and Europeanization of Romania, as well as with specific statistics concerning the interwar decades, place the analysis in the realm of multidisciplinary approaches.Keywords: Romanian interwar period, everyday life, modernization, Western European influences

Simion Costea, The Management of the eu’s Eastern Partnership Project: A New Stage in the European Neighbourhood Policy, p. 409Abstract -The Management of the eu’s Eastern Partnership Project A New Stage in the European Neighbourhood Policy
This article proposes an analysis of and new approaches to the new Eastern Partnership project, which is a new stage in strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy. The article proposes a scientific contribution to the knowledge of this important public policy of EU. By using its author’s expertise in the European Parliament, the article approaches issues such as: the geostrategic reasons for launching the Eastern Partnership project and its aims, financing the project, the political and institutional structures of the Eastern Partnership: intergovernmental and parliamentary level, technical and non-governmental level. The author sets forth a series of critical considerations concerning the Eastern Partnership and the Summit in Prague on 7 May 2009, at the same time emphasizing the difficulties of the 6 Eastern republics involved: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The article presents both Russia’s official speech concerning the Eastern Partnership together with the EU–Russia dialogue on this issue, and the profound causes of Russia’s hostility towards the Eastern Partnership. Finally, Romania’s position towards the Eastern Partnership is also presented.Keywords: Eastern Partnership, Black Sea cooperation, European Union, international relations, institutions, policy, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania

Diana-Adela Dinu, Hegel’s Concept of Europe, p. 433Abstract -Hegel’s Concept of Europe. Hegel, author of the ‘Phenomenology of Spirit‘, is an analytic interpreter of the spirit of his time. He dwelves into an analysis of the reasoning which stands behind the development of various peoples taking into account events which led to the formation of the modern nation, events which are explained based on the concept of will. This article aims at analyzing Hegel’s approach to Europe by means of using the writings in which the concept of Europe has been tackled.Keywords: Hegel, political philosophy, development of peoples, history of ideas, history of mankind

Sabin Adrian Luca, Considerations on the cultural heritage of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, p. 447Abstract -Considerations on the cultural heritage of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal. Samuel von Brukenthal was the governor of Transylvania between 1777-1787. Due to his activity as collector, through his encyclopedic passion for science and art, but especially through his cultural work providing generously for the general public, Baron Samuel von Brukenthal can be considered the most important representative of the Enlightenment in Transylvania and one of the greatest figures of the Enlightenment culture of Central Europe. His huge and impressive collections of paintings, rare books, coins and medals, Greek and Roman antiques, minerals, represents the nucleus of the present Brukenthal National Museum.Keywords: Brukenthal, Sibiu, Enlightenment, culture, collections, Transylvania, modern era, museum